1. 1959 Solomon R. Guggenheim museum opens in New York City
Wright, Rebay and Guggenheim with the scale model of their new mastepeice
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It was on this date in 1959 that one of New York City’s most popular attractions opened its doors to the public. That is, of course, the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum which houses one of the most spectacular collections of contemporary art in the entire world. Guggenheim was a mining tycoon that built himself a fortune and when he retired in the 1930’s he started collecting art. Soon it became much more than a hobby and he enlisted the help of a German baroness and artist by the name of Hilla Rebay to help him manage his massive collection. They started an exhibit in 1939 to allow other people to come and admire the work he had collected. Soon they outgrew the building and it was decided that they would build a new space. Rebay contacted architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1943 to have him create a building unlike any other at that time. She asked him to design not just a museum, but a “temple of spirit” with intentions of it bringing the world of art to the public. Wright worked for the next 16 years to make the new building something special, and he did just that. Unfortunately, he passed away just six months before the museum opened, Guggenheim also passed away in 1949 and was not able to see the completed project.
2. 1967: Anti-War march on the Pentagon
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What started as a mostly peaceful protest at the Lincoln Memorial building on this date in 1967 soon turned violent as the protesters marched on to the Pentagon. Protesters from almost every group you could name including, women’s groups, hippies, liberals, black nationalists and war veterans stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the anti-war rally. As soon as the rally ended the demonstrators started marching towards the Pentagon. Some reports claim nearly 100,000 people were in attendance but others said it was more like 35,000. When the demonstrators got close to the Pentagon they were met by soldiers and U.S. Marshalls there to protect the building. Things escalated quickly when some of the most radical protesters started clashing with soldiers. Soon the whole crowd got involved and the actually besieged and surrounded the small military nerve center and would remain in control of it until early morning on the 23rd. When order was finally restored there was a total of 683 people arrested for their actions that day.
3. 1975: Carlton Fisk’s World Series home run
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It was on this date in 1975 that Boston Red Sox catcher, Carlton Fisk, hit his “waving fair” home run off the left-field foul pole. It was the bottom of the 12 innings of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. At roughly 12:34 in the morning Fisk stood up to the plate and smashed a long fly ball towards left field. As soon as it left his bat he knew it had the distance, as long as it didn’t go into foul territory. Fisk started jumping up and down flailing his arms all over the place trying to will the ball to stay in bounds. Sure enough, the ball bounced off the big yellow foul pole above the Green Monster at Fenway which of course is a home run. The crowd went crazy and the Sox won the game. Fisk later told reporters that as far as he was concerned, had he not waived his arms like a maniac the ball would have gone foul. This would go down as one of the greatest moments in MLB history. In 2005 the Red Sox officially named the left field pole after Fisk to commemorate that amazing home run. However, that excitement didn’t last long because the Sox went on to lose game 7 the next night, and therefore the Series altogether. But nobody remembers that, they will however remember Fisk’s home run.